Blogs

May 23, 2012

New York, NY â€“ MiLB.com, the official website of Minor League BaseballTM, earlier this week launched MiLB.com Mascot Mania, an interactive tournament allowing fans to choose the best mascot in Minor League Baseball. Voting for Round One starts today and runs through Tuesday, May 29. Five additional rounds will follow before the fansâ€™ choice as the â€śBest Mascot in Minor League Baseballâ€ť is crowned on Tuesday, June 19. Fans can cast their vote now at http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120521&content_id=31888292&vk...

May 21, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
Besides talking about his childhood friend and current Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks in a piece that ran in Mondayâ€™s edition (here it is in case you missed it: http://pawtuckettimes.com/content/happy-you-buddy-patsâ€™-qb-mallett-elated-middlebrooks-can-officially-call-himself-big-leaguer), Patriots third-string quarterback Ryan Mallett weighed in about a few pigskin-related topics.

On what Mallettâ€™s offseason dance card consisted of leading up to the start of Organized Team Activities:

May 13, 2012

Letâ€™s face facts: The fight between Gov. Lincoln Chafee and U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha is about where Jason Pleau is going to spend the rest of his life â€” in a federal prison or at the ACI. It is not â€” I repeat not â€” about Pleau getting the death penalty. Thatâ€™s because it is extremely unlikely that Pleau is going to be executed, no matter how the current legal wrangling plays out.
The family of David Main, the Lincoln man gunned down by Pleau as he was making a deposit at a Woonsocket bank, would be spared a lot of anguish if someone would tell them that.

May 6, 2012

A 13 percent supplemental tax really stinks.
There is no way around that fact for people who live in Woonsocket, so it is best to just put it out there from the start: After you have paid all your property and automobile taxes for the year, to be hit with a bill for an extra 13 percent and get nothing for it except to balance the cityâ€™s books is the rancid cherry atop a crap sundae.

May 1, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
On Nov. 11, 2011, Carson Desrosiers blocked eight Loyola (MD) shots, a high sum that undoubtedly warmed the heart of Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik. It was unrealistic to expect that Desrosiers would be able to swat away that many shots on a nightly basis, yet it wasnâ€™t out of bounds to expect that the seven-footer would emerge as some sort of bruising force for the Demon Deacons down on the blocks.

April 30, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
BOSTON - For Aaron Cook and the Red Sox, D-Day â€“ as in Decision Day â€“ is at hand.
With Tuesday marking May 1, the day in which Cookâ€™s minor-league opt-out clause officially takes effect, Boston must decide whether to promote the veteran pitcher and place him on the active roster or risk losing him to free agency. Reached Monday night, Joe Bick, the agent for Cook, spelled out a step-by-step process that included all involved parties.

April 29, 2012

Folks who read this column during the whole Cranston prayer banner controversy know I am a stickler about church and state separation.
Even when a complaint may seem picayune or silly, or targets a much revered or longstanding symbol, having religious iconography on public property is wrong and impermissible under the Constitution. Public property should and must be a zone of neutrality where all faiths feel welcome to pass and roam freely, but none can plant a flag â€” or a cross, or a crescent or a six-pointed star.

April 20, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
PAWTUCKET â€“ Rich Hill will take another important step in his rehab Saturday when the lefthander pitches in relief for the Pawtucket Red Sox.
â€śIâ€™ll pitch an inning (Saturday) and another inning Sunday,â€ť Hill noted following Fridayâ€™s 15-10 win against Durham.
Pitching on consecutive days represents the next hurdle for Hill, who is not even a year out from undergoing Tommy John surgery. The 32-year-old passed his tests with Single-A Greenville and Salem, totaling six innings over five appearances.

April 20, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
PAWTUCKET â€“ Friday saw Mark Melancon begin what he hopes is a short stint with the Pawtucket Red Sox.
â€śIâ€™m just excited to get out there and throw strikes and kind of get on a roll,â€ť Melancon said. â€śI havenâ€™t been able to do that.â€ť
Truer words have never been spoken. Melancon was demoted by Boston earlier this week, his ERA an unsightly 49.50 (11 runs on 10 hits in just two innings). The hope is that by pitching in a less stressful environment, the 27-year-old Melancon can get himself in order and back up to the Red Sox.

April 8, 2012

Iâ€™m going to be watching the House and Senate Finance committee hearings to see if any more money is being funneled into the ACI kitchen budget. I figure that, at the rate senators and representatives are running afoul of the law these days, legislators are going to have a vested interest in improving the quality of prison food.

April 2, 2012

Those of you who donâ€™t get around much in the world of cyberpolitics might be surprised to learn that Gov. Lincoln Chafee has his very own channel on YouTube.
You can click on to YouTube and then search for either â€śRhodeislandgovernorâ€ť or â€śGovernor Lincoln Chafeeâ€ť and you can get a list of a whole bunch of videos that either the governorâ€™s office made, or that show some of his TV appearances or speeches at various public events.

March 25, 2012

Writing a weekly column like this, it is always a good idea to have a different mix of subject matter each week to keep things interesting for readers. Well, someone please tell that to Central Falls. That unfortunate municipality just canâ€™t seem to keep itself out of the headlines, so weâ€™ll have to keep discussing it here.
Besides, if you live in Pawtucket or Woonsocket and you think whatâ€™s going on in Central Falls doesnâ€™t matter to you, then youâ€™ve got another think coming.

March 14, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
It might not be the glitz and glamour of NCAA Tournament, but a pair of local Division I players â€“ two seniors, mind you â€“ find themselves involved in postseason play.
Woonsocketâ€™s Tyrone Nared and his Oregon teammates rocked LSU, 96-76, in Tuesdayâ€™s opening round of the National Invitational Tournament. Playing 19 minutes off the bench, Nared registered two points (both coming on free throws) along with three rebounds and three assists. Next up for Oregon is a second-round matchup with Iowa, set for Sunday night in Eugene.

March 4, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer

A little of this, a little of that â€¦

The leaders currently in place at the University of Rhode Island did not hire Jim Baron, who on Sunday was relieved of his head coaching duties with two years left on his contract. School president David Dooley and athletic director Thorr Bjorn were years away from taking their respective jobs at Rhody when Baron was lured away from St. Bonaventure in 2001.

March 3, 2012

Per the Big East Conference:

FIELD SET FOR 2012 BIG EAST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
PRESENTED BY AMERCIAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS

PROVIDENCE â€“ On the heels of a historic regular season in which it won 30 of 31 games, including a 17-1 mark in conference play, Syracuse has earned the 2012 BIG EAST regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the 2012 BIG EAST Championship presented by American Eagle Outfitters.

February 28, 2012

By BRENDAN McGAIR
Sports writer
Hopefully the passion and enthusiasm that Cumberland native Mike Roose has for his new venture with the Boston Red Sox â€“ that of strength and conditioning coordinator of the entire minor-league system â€“ came across loud and clear in an article that ran earlier this week. Hereâ€™s the link in case you missed it: http://pawtuckettimes.com/content/rising-through-ranks-cumberlands-mike-....